Cats Clash with Sooners in Big 12 Road Test

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State faces its first conference road test, as the Wildcats head to McCasland Field House in Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the Oklahoma Sooners in a two-match series Friday and Saturday.

K-State (9-4, 0-2 Big 12) began its Big 12 slate with a pair of losses to 10^th-ranked Baylor last weekend at Bramlage Coliseum, snapping its season-long eight-match winning streak.

Against the Bears, Aliyah Carter led the Wildcats in each match with 14 and 18 kills, respectively, in the three-set losses. Carter turned in her seventh double-double of the season Saturday, with 10 digs in addition to her 14 kills.

The Cats claimed both matchups a season ago against the Sooners (6-7, 0-2 Big 12) at Bramlage Coliseum and have won eight of the last 12 matchups with OU dating back to 2015. K-State seeks its first win in Norman since the 2017 season.

Both matches will be broadcast on Bally Sports Oklahoma and Friday's contests can be heard on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Both matches will have live, streaming audio available at K-StateSports.com/Watch.

MATCH #14
K-STATE (9-4, 0-2 BIG 12) at OKLAHOMA (6-7, 0-2 BIG 12)
Friday, October 1 // 5 p.m. // McCasland Field House // Norman, Okla.
Watch: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

MATCH #15
K-STATE (9-4, 0-2 BIG 12) at OKLAHOMA (6-7, 0-2 BIG 12)
Saturday, October 2 // 4 p.m. // McCasland Field House // Norman, Okla.
Watch: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch // Rob Voelker
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

K-State is set for its first Big 12 road test, as the Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners begin a two-match set at McCasland Field House on Friday.
The Wildcats hosted No. 10 Baylor to begin conference action, with the Bears earning a pair of sweeps at Bramlage Coliseum last weekend.
Aliyah Carter paced the Cats' offense in both matches, logging 14 in the opener before a match-high 18 in Sunday's contests.
Carter turned in her seventh double-double of the season Saturday, picking up 10 digs with her 14 kills.
K-State hit a season-low .150 in the league opener while the Bears hit .350 Saturday and .398 Sunday, turning in the top two hitting percentages against the Wildcats this season.
Kadye Fernholz produced six kills with a team-high .357 efficiency Saturday before adding eight more kills Sunday.
Haley Warner was second on the team with her eight kills in the opener.
Libero Mackenzie Morris registered a match-high 11 digs Sunday and added eight Saturday.
K-State finished with fewer blocks in each match than Baylor, marking the first time the Cats have been out-blocked this season.
The Cats' eight-match winning streak was snapped, which was their longest since the 2018 season.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma (6-7, 0-2 Big 12) opens its home conference slate against the Wildcats after going 0-2 at West Virginia.
The Sooners dropped a pair of four-set decisions in Morgantown to open league play.
OU has lost four of its last six matches overall, winning back-to-back matches against Abilene Christian and SMU.
Megan Wilson paces the OU offense with her 4.02 kills per se, which ranks third in the Big 12
Savannah Davison is second on the team with 3.50 kills a set.
Peyton Dunn, last week's Big 12 Rookie of the Week, is third in the conference with 10.00 assists per set.
As a team, Oklahoma ranks eighth in hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 57-36-1, dating back to 1975.
K-State swept both matches in the series in 2020 at Bramlage Coliseum, snapping a four-match losing skid to the Sooners.
The Wildcats have won eight of the last 12 in the series, going back to 2015.
K-State is 14-27 on the road in the series, last winning in Norman in 2017.
The Cats are 3-7 in their last 10 trips to McCasland Field House.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 23-17 against Oklahoma in her 21-year career and 9-10 on the road.

IT'S A PARTY

K-State has reached double-digit blocks in seven of 13 matches to begin the year, including a season-high 15 blocks at Omaha on September 18.
Additionally, the Cats have out-blocked their opponents in 11 of 13 matches this season.
K-State had finished the first 11 matches of the season with more blocks than its opponent until the Baylor series last weekend.
Against the Mavericks, Kayley Hollywood turned in a career-high 10 blocks to become the first Wildcat this season to reach double figures.
Kadye Fernholz has a team-high 50 total blocks her 1.19 blocks per set rank ninth in the Big 12.
Fernholz has registered at least three blocks in nine of 11 matches in which she has appeared, with a career-high eight coming against Loyola.
A Wildcat has reached at least five blocks in a match 18 times this season, led by Fernholz's six five-block outings.
Hollywood, in her first season as a starter, is second on the team with 45 total blocks and has posted multiple blocks in nine contests.
Five Wildcats average over 0.50 blocks per set (Fernholz, Bolding, Warner, Hollywood, Adams-Kaonohi).

RECORD PACE

In just 32 career matches, Aliyah Carter notched career kill No. 500 and equaled the program record as the fastest Wildcat to 500 career kills in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
Carter matched the record previously held by Natalya Korbkova, a junior transfer who played during the 2007-08 seasons.
Carter also tied Korbkova as the fastest Wildcats to 400 career kills, needing just 26 matches to reach the plateau.
Carter is the fastest to reach the milestone beginning as a true freshman, as she was seven matches faster Kylee Zumach's 39 contests.
Carter's nine matches with at least 20 kills are tied for fourth-most during the rally-scoring era, as she is more than halfway to Kaitlynn Pelger's record of 15 20-kill performances.

MACK ATTACK

Mackenzie Morris, who has played every set in her career as the Wildcat libero, is sixth in the Big 12 with her 3.78 digs per set and 10th at 0.34 aces a set.
Morris picked up career dig No. 500 against Omaha on September 18, the same match Carter logged her 500th kill.
Her career average of 3.93 digs per set is only behind all-time leader Angie Lastra's 4.37 (rally scoring).
Morris served up four aces in back-to-back contests against UCSB and San Diego State, equaling her career high.
Against the Gauchos, Morris carded 20 digs - her seventh career outing with 20 or more digs.
Her seven 20-dig performances rank fifth in program history during the rally-scoring era.

CARDIAC CATS

In 2020, K-State went to five sets in nine of 21 matches, going 6-3 in five-setters.
This season, the Cats are 3-0 in five-set contests after back-to-back five-set wins over Loyola Chicago and Fresno State to end the K-State Invitational.
The Cats have won seven of their last eight and nine of their last 11 five-set matches, dating back to last season.
The Wildcats went 4-0 in five-set matches last season on the road and twice came back from 1-2 deficits.
Since 2017, K-State has played 35 five-set matches, going 18-17.

ACE IN YO' FACE

The Wildcats put together a stretch of eight consecutive matches with five or more aces from September 4-18.
The stretch was the longest since the Cats' stretch of 11 matches in a row with at least five aces during the 2007 season.
K-State has recorded at least five aces in 10 of 13 contests this season.
From 2008-20, K-State never had a streak of more than five straight matches with five or more service aces.
The streak was snapped Saturday against Baylor, as K-State failed to record an ace in a match for the first time since the 2014 season.
Additionally, the Cats did not record an ace in either outing against the Bears, marking the first time K-State did not have an ace in back-to-back outings in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
Before the weekend, Loren Hinkle recorded an ace in six straight matches, including multiple aces in five outings.
Mackenzie Morris has four matches with at least three aces this season, including back-to-back outings with four aces to equal her career high.
K-State tallied a season-high 10 aces in a five-set win at UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 4.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Wildcats are 6-0 this season when winning the first set and 5-0 when leading 2-0.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 297-58 (.837) in her career when leading a match 1-0.
K-State has hit over .300 in a match twice this season, with both being five-set contests.
It marks the first time in program history (rally-scoring era) that the Cats have two five-set matches with better than a .300 efficiency.
The last time K-State hit .300 or better in a five-set match was the 2017 season.
The Cats' .321 clip in their five-set win at UCSB marked the second-best percentage in five sets in the rally-scoring era and highest since 2008.
In her career, Fritz is 135-3 when her team hits north of .300 while she is 71-0 when holding opponents under .100.

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Players Mentioned

Aliyah Carter

Kadye Fernholz

Loren Hinkle

Kayley Hollywood

Mackenzie Morris

Haley Warner

Kansas State University Athletics